‘Bulldozing spirit of the law’, ‘illegal and immoral’: Editorials on UP’s demolition drive

On Sunday, the bulldozer came back into the newscycle after an activist’s house was razed in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj.

The house belongs to Javed Mohammed, a leader of the Welfare Party of India, who was arrested a day before on charges of being a “mastermind” of the protests that took place in the city over remarks made against the Prophet. His daughter Afreen Fatima is a student activist.

Similar drives took place in Kanpur and Saharanpur, where houses of those accused of violence were razed by bulldozers.

An editorial in the Indian Express today called the bulldozer drive “predictable” and a violation of “due process”.

“That the Yogi Adityanath administration should wrap its actions in self-righteous claims of the tough state moving against ‘anti-social’ elements, and that UP officials and politicians should boast about ‘Saturdays’ following ‘Fridays’, and ‘return gifts’ to the riot-accused, marks a new level of brutalisation in public discourse,” the editorial said.

It added: “In a constitutional democracy, the bulldozer on a rampage is the state thumbing its nose at the court, the DM and SP playing judge and jury – and loyal executioners.”

The Times of India also had an editorial on the bulldozer drive in today’s paper though it attempted an unfortunate pun in its headline, “System ‘bull-dazed’: As bulldozers roll on, higher courts almost seem to be in a daze. They must respond”. It said the “violations of basic rights are widespread” even as “the wheels of justice are moving far slower than the tracks of bulldozers”.

It said hopefully: “It falls to higher courts to create a judicial barrier to bulldozer ‘justice’. It’s unlikely that any CM or municipal authority would defy judges.”

Hindustan Times’s editorial on June 13 said it was “time to turn the page”. It said the government, political parties and community leaders must “come together to appeal for calm, repair fraying communal relations and ensure administrative responses, while being tough and quick, are also fair”.

“Public spectacles such as demolishing houses will hurt the pursuit of lasting peace,” the editorial said.

The New Indian Express came down heavily on the state government, its editorial today describing the demolition drive as “illegal, immoral and unjustifiable”.

“At present, as a republic, we are bulldozing over the very spirit of the law,”it said. “The bulldozer knows no legal nuances and niceties...The political views of father and daughter may not match with another person’s, or with that of the government, but they are entitled to hold them and express them in public – as long as those do not include calls to break the law.”